Diabetic Nephropathy Clinical Research

Do you know why we are conducting diabetic nephropathy clinical research? This medical condition isn’t talked about as much as say diabetes, but it is very serious for those who develop it. We are working in collaboration with research teams around the country in order to help improve the therapies and diagnostic tests available for diabetic nephropathy.

The word nephropathy actually refers to kidney damage or disease. So the term diabetic nephropathy refers to damage that’s inflicted on the kidneys because of diabetes. This medical condition often leads to complete kidney failure without serious medical intervention. However, not everyone who’s diagnosed with diabetes experiences this issue.

The kidneys are essential organs that filter out waste from the bloodstream. Poorly managed diabetes means glucose levels are more often high and this can damage the blood vessels of the kidneys over time. This limits their effectiveness and they may completely shut down over time (kidney failure).

During the earliest stages, there are no physical symptoms.Routine urinary analysis tests are the best way to identify kidney damage early on. It’s even possible for the effects to be reversed during the earliest stages. It can take up to 10 years before the first symptoms of kidney damage manifest themselves. The earliest physical symptom associated with diabetic nephropathy is often swelling in the feet or legs.

Diabetic nephropathy is diagnosed using a fairly simple test that checks for the presence of albumin in the urine. The presence of this type of protein in the urine is an indicator that the kidneys are not performing their job efficiently. If you are living with diabetes, than you should consider getting this test about once every year.

If kidney damage is indicated, then doctors will likely prescribe some medications to help lower your blood pressure. This will help protect against further damage, as the nephropathy will cause your blood pressure to rise. It can also cause cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise as well. Despite the insights garnered from diabetic nephropathy clinical trials, this medical condition is very hard to treat.

In certain cases, doctors will have to discontinue one or two of their patient’s medications due to the risk they pose to the kidneys. This medical condition is one of the leading causes of death and sickness in people who’ve been diagnosed with diabetes. Cases that aren’t properly addressed can lead to dialysis or even the need for a kidney transplant.

Diabetic Nephropathy Clinical Trials in Birmingham

If you would like to volunteer for a diabetic nephropathy clinical trial, our skilled research team will be available to answer any of your questions and enroll you in the best study. If you have never participated in a clinical trial before, we highly recommend that you spend some time reading through our research volunteer resource section. We understand that this experience can be confusing at first, but these pages should help answer many of your questions.

Participants will be compensated for time and travel, and any study related care. The following are all provided free of charge:

Physical examinations

Laboratory services

Study related medication

We are conducting studies targeted towards a diverse variety of medical conditions at our state-of-the-art facility here in Birmingham. You don’t have to be living with a condition such as diabetic nephropathy in order to qualify for one of our clinical trials. If you are interested in helping us advance modern medicine and save more lives, please give us a call today at (205) 757-8208.